Encyclopedia

DRIVERS: CORRADO FABI

The son of an Abarth racer, Corrado went to watch his brother Teo in a ski race when, getting bored, he rented a go-kart for the afternoon. He enjoyed the experience to such an extent that his father bought him one and he began to race seriously at the age of 12, becoming a Birel factory driver at 14. As soon as he was 18 he went into Formula 3 with a March 783 which had been used by his brother, who had also caught the racing bug but being older had been able to progress more quickly. Corrado scored several good placings in the Italian Formula 3 series and this led to an invitation to join Michele Alboreto in the Euroracing European F3 team in 1980 with March-Alfa Romeo 803s. He finished third in the championship, scoring two wins.

While studying aeronautical engineering he moved up to the March Formula 2 team in 1981 and at the end of the year tested a Brabham-BMW at Paul Ricard. He stayed with factory March F2 team in 1982 and won the European F2 title. He tested for Brabham again but signed for the Osella F1 team in 1983. This was a mistake and he struggled all year. In 1984, however, he shared the second Brabham-BMW with brother Teo, who was also racing in CART. Corrado took part in three events and finished seventh in Dallas. He then did several Indycar races with Forsythe Racing after Teo decided to concentrate on F1.

That year their father died and Corrado retired from racing to run the family talcum powder business.